jim@kaos.Stanford.EDU (Jim Helman) (06/16/89)
RMS: Some people do consider long-term public interest in making their decisions. Reaching these people is better than reaching no one. By raising these questions, we can encourage more long-term thinking. Spoken like a hard core organizer. But why not reach both groups? It would have a MUCH wider impact to supply BOTH political reasons and practical ones, with the emphasis on the practical. The major goal should be letting people know about specific pieces of free software that can replace common Mac applications. Things I think would be useful: 1) A list of software, free and commercial(!), that can replace applications on Macs (drawing programs, spread sheets, etc.) I'm still using the old Gosling->Weiser->Bond sc Unix spread sheet program. Is there anything newer? 2) When free software requires a substantial software platform to build, e.g. idraw which needs InterViews which needs g++, libg+ and gcc, it would be great if someone could put binaries for the major machine types out for ftp. I know that many will argue that commercial software should not be included in any discussion here. That depends on whether the main goal is to HELP PEOPLE learn what the alternatives are to using the blacklisted products or to maintain the purity of the discussion. In response to my post, I appreciated receiving recommendations of both commercial and free software, including a suggestion on A/UX from someone at Apple. As my previous message indicates, I learned of a very viable non-commercial solution. To my mind, the free communication and exchange of both ideas and software are important. I think Apple's legal claims, if upheld, are very dangerous because they could stifle both of these. But the freedom of ideas is clearly more important than that of software. The latter can't even exist without the former. When free software can do a better job, allow it to win on its own merits (as gnuemacs does against Unipress, as gcc does against most cc's or in my application, as idraw does against MacDraft). When free software can't compete on this basis, the dedicated people will still use it (and improve it), but let the others know where things really stand. In short, don't sacrifice the free exchange of ideas for the sake of that of software. News blackouts only decrease the credibilty of those who restrict communication. Let everyone speak. -jim